The First Boss: A Fiery Challenge

After clearing the second wave of fire snakes, which included an elite monster, with no major incidents, the group finally arrived before the first boss.

Lin Shenyue frowned, her gaze fixed on the colossal fire elemental standing before them. She immediately activated her Appraisal Skill.

[Lava Giant (Level 15 Silver-tier BOSS): HP: 350,000/350,000. Physical Attack: 1500-1700.]

Lin Shenyue’s expression shifted. These monsters were from a difficult-tier dungeon, meaning their attributes far surpassed those in a normal-tier Level 15 dungeon. Even Ye Jue had initially planned to tackle the normal difficulty first to get a feel for it before attempting the difficult one.

While part of his caution stemmed from the final boss being incredibly tough, a significant reason was the excessively high attributes of the monsters, making them virtually unmanageable for Level 15 players.

Lin Shenyue knitted her brows in thought for a moment before speaking, a hint of hesitation in her voice. “This boss has a massive health pool and its physical attack is quite high. As a boss, it will undoubtedly possess at least three or more skills.”

“If my guess is correct, the boss’s fire resistance will be much higher than the regular mobs, which means Embracing the Moon, Clear Breeze, you likely won’t be able to deal much damage. Judging by its appearance, its defense won’t be low either; we’re probably in for a long battle.”

“However, looking at its joints, the boss’s speed appears to be relatively low. We’ll need to employ mobile attacks when necessary. Additionally, there are several small rock formations around the boss. Though their purpose isn’t clear now, we can use them for cover during unexpected situations to mitigate some of the boss’s attacks.”

Xu Linglong was no longer surprised by Lin Shenyue’s rapid analysis. Having grown up with her, she understood her best friend’s terrifying computational abilities. Ye Jue, on the other hand, felt a little speechless.

If not for his extensive knowledge of Lin Shenyue, he might have believed she wasn’t experiencing this for the first time. Despite his momentary exasperation, he had gradually grown accustomed to her calculating mind.

Lin Shenyue had shared a great deal, yet she omitted one critical detail that could easily lead to a party wipe. This left Ye Jue slightly hesitant. He quickly shook his head, pushing the thought aside.

Even if it resulted in a party wipe, using this experience to help Lin Shenyue grow would be a worthwhile trade-off.

Upon reaching Level 15, Lin Shenyue acquired four new skills. Two were learned from skill books: Prayer and Resurrection Skill. Another was the Holy Word Skill, available to priests at Level 15, while the last, Illusion, was typically for Level 20 priests.

[Prayer: The player stands still and prays, restoring 40 + 50% of magic attack as health per second to friendly targets within a 10-meter radius for 5 seconds. This skill can be interrupted. Cast Time: 1 second. Mana Cost: 100. Cooldown: 1 minute.]

[Resurrection Skill: The player uses this skill to revive a player who has not yet reincarnated (i.e., chosen to revive at a resurrection point). The revived player’s experience loss is reduced by 90%, and their weakened state duration is reduced from 3 hours to 10 minutes. Cast Time: 3 seconds. Mana Cost: 300. Cooldown: 5 minutes. (Within dungeons, Resurrection Skill’s cooldown is shortened to 1 minute, and the weakened state duration is reduced from 5 minutes to none.)]

[Holy Word Skill: The player uses this skill to change a designated player’s attack attribute to a neutral attribute for 5 minutes. Cast Time: 1 second. Mana Cost: 200. Cooldown: 20 minutes.]

[Illusion: The priest uses their light-elemental energy to distort light around themselves, entering an illusory state. During this time, all physical damage taken is reduced by 50%. Duration: 1 minute. Cooldown: 5 minutes. Mana Cost: 200.]

Despite having acquired Prayer and Resurrection Skill, Lin Shenyue had never used them in their recent battles. Since Ye Jue hadn’t asked, and Lin Shenyue, believing Ye Jue knew everything, hadn’t volunteered the information, he hadn’t factored these two skills into his strategy.

Even if Ye Jue had known, he understood they would only slightly reduce potential losses.

After a brief tactical discussion, the group engaged the boss. For most players, a first dungeon attempt usually involved probing the situation, accepting death as a learning experience rather than aiming for a first-time clear.

However, for Lin Shenyue’s party of five, everyone except Lin Shenyue and Ye Jue was ambitious, naturally wanting to clear it on their first try. Ye Jue, aiming to minimize losses, unleashed 50% of his true skill. Despite the boss’s powerful attacks, it rarely landed a hit on him, leaving Lin Shenyue quite exasperated.

When the boss’s health dropped by 20%, it unleashed its first major ability. This single attack proved to be a devastating blow to the entire party.

The Lava Giant roared, slamming its massive hands directly into the ground. Instantly, the earth beneath their feet began to shift and crack. Lin Shenyue’s expression changed, and she urgently warned, “Watch your footing!”

As top-tier players, they naturally wouldn’t ignore such an anomaly. Ye Jue glanced at Lin Shenyue’s position, noting she was near a small hill, and breathed a sigh of relief. While they had all adjusted their pain receptors to a higher setting, none were masochists; even Ye Jue had only set his to 50%.

However, knowing Lin Shenyue had hers at 100% pain sensitivity, Ye Jue naturally wanted to spare her from any attacks.

Seeing that Lin Shenyue made no move towards the nearby small hill, Ye Jue had to speak up directly. “Yue’er, head to the small hill first. You’ll be safer there.”

Lin Shenyue shot Ye Jue a curious glance. When he avoided her gaze, she understood that the impending event would likely require the safety of the hill. She ascended the hill, and just as she was about to speak, the ground fractured, spewing massive amounts of lava from the fissures.

Immediately, damage numbers ranging from 300-500 erupted above everyone’s heads. This was only the first second. When the damage numbers reappeared in the second second, they increased by another 100 points. Xu Linglong and Divine Wind were instantly reduced to a sliver of health. Ye Jue took less damage due to his higher magic resistance. Embracing the Moon, Clear Breeze, took the least damage, but even he was left with only a little over one-third of his health.

Lin Shenyue’s reaction speed had been insufficient during the first second, preventing her from casting a timely heal. However, the moment the second wave of damage appeared, she cast a Group Healing Skill on everyone, simultaneously placing Sanctuary on Xu Linglong, as Divine Wind had already moved closer to another hill.

She began chanting again, and the next second, Prayer was unleashed, pulling everyone’s health bars up to roughly half. Thanks to Lin Shenyue’s healing, no one died this time, but their overall condition was still poor. Even after Lin Shenyue finished chanting Prayer, their health only stabilized at about three-quarters.

While Lin Shenyue could continue healing, what she hadn’t anticipated was the Lava Giant directly stomping through the lava and charging towards Xu Linglong, who was closest to it. Fortunately, Ye Jue was prepared.

Enduring the lava damage, he immediately charged to the small hill where Xu Linglong was. However, he didn’t use Taunt, knowing that the giant was in a state of confused aggro at this moment, rendering Taunt useless. Only a warrior’s divine skill, Forced Taunt, would be effective.

Even so, the small hill Xu Linglong had chosen was too far from Lin Shenyue, placing her outside the healing range. Lin Shenyue couldn’t go to her aid, as she couldn’t withstand the lava damage, and her movement speed was a critical weakness.

Just as she was about to use her Invincibility skill to forcefully support Ye Jue, she heard his voice. “Don’t use Invincibility, or we won’t be able to clear this dungeon today!” Hearing this, Lin Shenyue had no choice but to abandon the idea of using Invincibility.

At the same time, Xu Linglong and Ye Jue, unable to withstand the boss’s attacks, died one after another. Embracing the Moon, Clear Breeze, after enduring two more hits from the boss, finally held on until the lava subsided.

He hastily retreated. Luckily, the boss’s aggro recovered at that moment, and Divine Wind, on another small hill, immediately snatched the aggro. Otherwise, even with the boss’s slow movement, it would have easily caught up to him.

After the three of them retreated, Lin Shenyue stared blankly at the corpses of Ye Jue and Xu Linglong, her eyes filled with confusion. Suddenly, she remembered her skills and hastily cast a Resurrection Skill on Ye Jue.

Ye Jue, who was about to revive at the dungeon entrance, was momentarily stunned when he saw the system notification that he had been revived by a teammate. He immediately clicked ‘yes,’ choosing to revive within a safe range close to Lin Shenyue and the others.

When revived by a teammate, one could choose to respawn randomly within a 10-meter radius; otherwise, dying at the boss’s feet would only lead to being stomped to death again upon resurrection.

A minute later, when Lin Shenyue revived Xu Linglong, Xu Linglong shot her a resentful look that made Lin Shenyue feel a shiver down her spine, as if she had abandoned her. Fortunately, although Xu Linglong was displeased, she didn’t voice it in front of everyone.

Instead, she secretly vowed, ‘How dare you save someone else first? Just wait until you wake up in reality; I’ll teach you a lesson.’ Lin Shenyue suddenly felt a chill down her spine, as if someone was staring at her. However, the sensation quickly vanished, allowing Lin Shenyue to let out a long breath of relief.